Stephen Plews is a
musical polymath.. A classically trained
pianist, he is a jazz composer and player
as well as composing in the ‘classical’
world. He is also a champion of new
music, having set up his own studio
and record label ASC Records though
he has now returned to performance and
composition.
This CD has examples
of Plews in out-and-out jazz form but
more of the music is contemporary classical
with jazz inflections of various kinds.
If you are not a lover of jazz, don’t
be put off. That also applies to those
normally allergic to keyboards, which
includes me. Their use here as serious
instruments contributing to the impact
of the music is entirely convincing
and I had no problem with them at all.
"God’s Mates Revisited"
is a straightforward, highly enjoyable
jazz trio piece of boppish virtuosity.
The titles of jazz numbers rarely mean
anything to me and the information in
the notes that this is the original
trio version of "God’s Mates",
is no more helpful than usual (the wrong
way round, in fact). Essentially, the
same applies to "On The Street
Where You Died"; its melancholic
and wistful nature might suggest the
title but equally could refer to, say,
a failed love affair. It’s a good talking
point, just how much do we need titles
or to know about what extra-musical
thinking lies behind a composition?
Of "King’s Casualties", Stephen
Plews says that it is ‘about all the
anonymous dead soldiers that there have
been’. A big subject and one can’t argue
with the sincerity of the motivation
but, although undeniably a fairly desolate
sounding piece, in what sense is this
‘about’ the dead soldiers?
Even though the musical
styles employed are very different,
a generally somewhat bleak atmosphere
pervades the whole CD. The most obvious
examples include "Industrial Language",
a tough piece for violin and piano -
a moto perpetuo with stabbing
accents in the violin creating a harsh,
bleak effect. In spite of the completely
different instrumentation involving
keyboards and jazz-based style, "Theme
– Highland Clearance" also manages
to sound bleak. Unusually, I enjoyed
the repetitive figures of the second
half of the piece although it reminded
me of constant traffic on a busy road
rather than an empty Highland landscape!
That underrated instrument, the bass
clarinet, has a prominent role as it
does in "Echoe’s Bones", an
improvisatory meditation on poems by
Samuel Beckett.
Stephen Plews is obviously
a skilful pianist but entrusts his Five
Études for piano to David Jones.
In spite of the warnings in the notes
about the minimalist nature of Plews’
jazz piano studies, I enjoyed them immensely
when I found they were not in the Terry
Riley mode; far more interesting and
preferable to Czerny any day!
The fusion of contemporary
classical styles and jazz is very successful
in "Lament for Synesios",
samples of choral music adding an unexpected
dimension. "Evolution" sums
up the feeling of the record in its
amalgam of jazz riffs and classical
motor rhythms under a discursive saxophone
solo. I will ponder on the claim in
the notes that "the ensemble succeeds
in depicting the punctuated equilibrium
of evolution."
The combination of
superficially diverse styles unified
by a consistent feeling provides interesting
listening and I would recommend this
CD to the musically adventurous.
Roger Blackburn
Robert Bellatalla (double bass); Bill Eyden
(drums); Mike Walker (guitar); Steve Berry (double
bass); Iain Dixon (bass clarinet); Jeff Clyne
(double bass); Trevor Tomkins (drums); Peter
Fairclough (drums); Duncan MacKay (trumpet);
Roger Heaton (clarinet); Stephen Pruslin (piano);
Stuart Death (piano); Andrew Long (violin);
Ed Jones (saxophone); Phil Clarke (drums); David
Jones (piano); Stephen Plews (piano and keyboards)
